Author: professor6153

Moira is a dungeon style role-playing game first developed for the Plato system around 1975. I spent about an hour reading over the introduction and getting used to the game mechanics. The first word that comes to mind from this initial experience with the game? Daunting. The scope and size of this game is immense. The game introduces you to many more choices for your character than any of the previous games reviewed on the Plato system.

Whereas the previous games were heavily influenced by Dungeons & Dragons that does not seem to be the case here. The character attributes are different as well as the magic system in play.

Character generation is based on four skills and here is where the game moves away from the D&D influence. The four skills are Cunning, Piety, Valor, and Wizardry. Cunning allows you to trick monsters, open boxes and chests, and evade monsters. It is the primary attribute of thieves. Piety determines the rate and success of praying you can do and affects the casting of peacetime spells. It is the main attribute for Priests. Valor determines the amount of damage you can do in fighting and also can decrease the damage done to a character by monsters. Valor also determines which weapons a character can use. It is the primary attribute for fighters. Wizardry gives you skill in casting spells and is the primary attribute for wizards.

When you are creating your character you get your choice of four different number roll sets which never change. Each roll chooses one of the four attributes to assign a 10 to. The other two receive a score of 7 and the last attribute receives a 5. In this way, upon character creation, you have to decide if you want to concentrate on being a fighter, thief, priest, or wizard.

There are a number of first experiences in the game of Moira. The first one is having to choose your class: fighter, thief, priest, or wizard. In the previous three games reviewed your character was a hybrid of all of these and the wizard and priest spells were not differentiated like they are here. The next “first” was apparent when you entered the game.

The previous games were in an overhead perspective but in Moria you are shown a perspective of the walls and doors that you seem to walk towards and go through. This would later become a popular staple of the Wizardry games and many other dungeon crawlers that followed. You can see in the 3D perspective that Aragorn is currently in a Room and that changes to read Corridor when you are in halls.

Another first is the constant need for food and water. You can see on the left of the display that your food and water is closely monitored. This is something that needs to be monitored closely. There is a tremendous amount of mapping that you are going to be doing in this game and as you move around these supplies become depleted. The only way that you can obtain food is in the city from the Supply Store and then you need to get your water from City Well which is located in a completely different area of the city. If you allow either your food or water to go to zero you will die.

Another first is that Moria is not turn based but real time. I learned this the hard way. I was building my character up and mapping out the surrounding wilderness when I ran into a wandering monster. An encounter! Suddenly there was a knock at my front door and I got up to answer it. When I returned I found that the monster had hit me several times; doing over 100 damage; and I was killed. So be aware that if you are standing in the city or wilderness, or in an encounter, you must act. Your supplies will continue to be used and worse yet if you are in an encounter and do nothing your antagonist will still attack you relentlessly. Personally I find this aspect of the game to be highly inconvenient due to the amount of mapping that needs to be done to be successful. This is not a game then that you can multi-task with but requires your full concentration unlike turn based games where you can deal with real life issues then return when convenient.

Now I want to address why I would use the word daunting to describe Moria. The sheer amount of navigation and mapping which needs to be done. The mazes in Moria are organized into levels which are parts of different terrains. Two of the terrains are the City which you start in and the Wilderness. The city is basically a resting place for your character and a place where you can go to buy food & water, weapons & armor, and sell magic items. The Wilderness is a hostile area filled with monsters. The Wilderness can be thought of as an overland map however it has the appearance of a dungeon. When you map out the wilderness you are mapping out corridors with doors and rooms. Scattered somewhere on the Wilderness map are your entrances to the Caves, Mountains, Forest, and Desert. Those four terrains are much like dungeons that need to be explored. Each of the four terrains has a total of 60 levels! And the maps are huge! The city alone was 48 x 42 squares ( I did not bother mapping out the city) and the Wilderness map is 30 x 36 squares. The four different dungeon terrains are just as big in size and also 60 levels deep!

There are several ways to honor a player character in the game. The first is making it into the Hall of Fame with a high score. You score points for fighting monsters. Another goal that is more difficult to achieve is to become master of your Guild. If you choose to do so, you can join one of four Guilds in the game. For example, I was planning to join the Union of Knights. In order to make my way up to Guildmaster my Valor score needs to be at least 50. When I started the game my Valor was at 10. The more that you use an attribute the higher the attribute’s score becomes. I have only just now started to map out the Wilderness and already my Valor is up to 13. This is another first from the previous games. The last and most dangerous goal is to find the Reaper’s Ring. The ring is randomly placed on level 1 and then moves down a level each time it is found. It may be found in any of the four terrains, so the search may be long and arduous. I just recently checked and found that the last person to find the ring did so on level 55. This means the Reaper’s Ring is on level 56 of one of the four different terrains. That is going to require a tremendous amount of mapping and searching.

I have only spent about 2-3 total hours with Moria but you can already see the breadth and scope compared to the previous three games. The game seems almost impossible with all of the mapping that needs to be done and the amount of time and hours that are going to be needed to finish this one boggles the imagination. I may find myself in Moria for a very, very, long time.

My exploration of the Plato system and what it had to offer gamers in 1975 leads me to Orthanc; an expansive dungeon crawl.

Orthanc improves upon Rutherford’s Dungeon on several fronts except one that possibly matters the most: a reason to play.

Perhaps I was spoiled by the Game of Dungeons because it actually had a plot. I don’t know about you but going on a quest to slay a dragon and obtain the orb it is guarding checks off quite a few fantasy tropes for me. So forgive me if the sole purpose of braving 10 dungeon levels is so that I can retire with honor near the seat of the king seems like a bit of a let down.

Let’s take a closer look at the game itself and concentrate on the improvements that it has to offer. There is a much greater variety of monster types that you have to deal with. This adds layers of complexity to the game because some of the different monster types have special abilities and you’ll have to think and experiment about how best to deal with each of the monster types.

These are just two of the eight pages of monsters that you encounter in the game. Many of them have special abilities, are only affected by certain spells, may have set locations on a particular level, or may appear as wandering monsters.

Your spell selection is much greater as a result. Instead of 2 levels of spells you now have 4 levels of spells to choose from.

A 1st level spell costs you 1 spell point to cast whereas a 4th level spell costs you 4 spell points. Your character gains additional spell points as he or she gains levels of experience.

You gain experience one of three ways: 1) by defeating monsters 2) by obtaining treasure and 3) by acquiring magical items.

The other vast improvement to the game is the graphical layout of your character and other pertinent information. Below is a screenshot:

I found this graphical interface to be extremely exciting when I first started play. Characteristics and Stats were very clear. You could easily see which area of effect spells were in play and there was a clear area for Magical Items. The layout was crisp, clean and clear and hinted at a larger character focus. I was excited to begin play. However this served to heighten the disappointment I had with the game.

Your character begins play with no name at all. You only get to assign a name to your character should you make it into the game’s Hall of Fame. So as the setting suggests your goal is to, pun intended, make a name for yourself. However I found this served to create a sort of detachment for me. The game mentions that a third way you can gain experience is by finding magical items albeit this way is rarer. A better descriptive might have been non-existent. In mapping out 3 of the 10 levels and spending hours with the game; I never encountered any magical items or equipment upgrades at all! Not one! Quite surprising for a rogue-like dungeon crawler. So while this graphical interface served to feed any character “buffing” fetishes I may have had; it was an ultimate disappointment in that I never found or accrued anything interesting or useful. I thought surely this will change when I get to the 2nd level of the dungeon. Nope. Nada. Then I thought when I map out the 3rd level I’ll find something – at LEAST a banana peel – but again nothing. You do acquire copper, silver, gold and if you’re lucky gems and jewelry. The jewelry can be quite a boost to your experience if your lucky enough to find a trinket.

There are 10 total dungeon levels in Orthanc and the levels are very large. Each of the levels are on a 24 x 20 grid. There are chutes and pits scattered about each level as well. If you’re on level two and you fall down a chute to level five you’re pretty much done for at lower levels. The dungeon levels are static; they do not change. There is an automapping feature in the game that you can access at anytime. However the map window is so small and each level is so large that it makes the automapping almost useless. I actually like that the dungeon levels are static and I like mapping them out. I don’t mind pulling out the graph paper and putting in the work. After all, that’s one of the challenges of these older dungeon crawler games. Here is my problem however: there is no driving reason to map out all ten of the levels other than to be a completist. There is no text or fixed areas yet in these older games and in this particular game any magic items or armor upgrades you may find are extremely rare. So, much like an arcade game, your only reason to continue to map out the levels is to keep increasing in experience and obtain a higher score. Below are the maps of the levels that I did complete in case you may find them to be of some help.

Now if in order to win the game you had to map out all 10 of the levels than I would have certainly given it my best shot. However all you need to do to WIN at Orthanc is to obtain a high enough score to get into their Hall of Fame. I was able to do so without having to map out the entire third level so in my mind I accomplished what I needed to do to win the game. Below you can see my character actually earning a name for himself, in this case I chose Fost, and making the Hall of Fame.

Orthanc features permadeath as well which means dead is dead. If you die in the dungeon then you must start all over at the beginning. This definitely causes increased anxiety as you move deeper and deeper into the dungeon. A new feature in this game that is not found in the others is that it is possible to encounter another player in the game. You can chat with them or supposedly fight them. Now I never encountered other players in the game. As a matter of fact, much of the time I was the only player on the server during my sessions. However, this would still make Orthanc the very first MMORPG – which is an online role-playing video game in which a large number of people participate simultaneously. This is a pretty amazing feature for 1975 if you think about it!

My overall experience here was a positive one. The technical improvements in Orthanc compared to Dungeon are huge. This is about as true as one could get to a table top Dungeons & Dragons experience in 1975. The monsters, spells, and exploration are obviously greatly influenced by the D&D game which was released the year before. It is not difficult to imagine players sitting at a Plato system in 1975 spending hours and hours on this game in an attempt to increase their scores. The Hall of Fame page, much like arcade machines, has a highly addictive draw for many. However even though I was impressed with the improvements and had a positive experience, I did not feel the need to try to map out all 10 of the dungeon levels. I was content to retire my character into the Hall of Fame, after finally making a name for himself. I am calling this a WIN and moving on to my next challenge.

Our next game we’re going to be taking a look at is Moria which is also found on the Plato network.

I finally found the dreaded Dragon on the 18th level of the Dungeon. I chose NOT to use the Dragon Spell which would have used all of my spell points and instead tried to take the beast out with a lightning bolt. Yeah that did not work. Luckily I was able to kill the dragon with my sword. I grabbed the Orb and then began to make my way back up and out of the dungeon. All the way to the top I was encountering 9000 level creatures but I was strong enough that my spells were taking them out. I did finally reach the entrance to the dungeon and I made my way outside.

Here you can see, pictured below, Ryshad’s place at the top of the Finders of the Orb list.

My strategy was to teleport to the lowest level I felt I could endure. I would then spend time mapping the level out and returning to that level repeatedly until it seemed easy. I would make my way back up to the surface, wash, rinse, and repeat. I did this because I wanted to be intimately familiar with each of the levels and train my eyes. I wanted to be sure that, in the end, as I made my way to the top with the Orb I had my eyes trained to recognize which was the quickest route to the exit on each of the levels. This did end up being a great advantage in the end as I found making my way back up through the levels was much like a reflex action.

And thus my Game of Dungeons experience comes to an end so here are my final thoughts on the game.

There are a number of things that I find positively significant about this game.

This is the very first game in which the idea of a “big boss” that you have to defeat is introduced. In our previous game, Dungeon, the goal was to reach a certain number of experience points which you earned by defeating randomly generated monsters. Game of Dungeons had an actual goal: slay the dragon and retrieve the Orb.

This is also the first game in which you could keep acquiring a variety of magic items to improve the strength and stats of your character. Several of these items became more powerful as you found them in the deeper levels and instead of a +1 bonus they could give you +2 or +3. The deeper your foray into the dungeon your hit points were increasing (from finding gold AND defeating monsters) and you were acquiring stronger magical items so you had a true sense of character progression. I understand that this is greatly improved upon and a much more dynamic experience with current rogue-like games but the fact still remains that this was introduced here for the first time.

There can be no doubt that in 1975 this game must have seemed like a technological marvel. The Plato System was considered a super computer at the time and the number of hours students must have spent in the computer lab, playing this game, must be mind boggling. I wonder how many saw their grades suffer as a result.

The time investment with this game was significant. I went through 21 characters like wood going through a wood chipper before I became wise to the game mechanics. I would say plan on a good 10-12 hours before you establish a good learning curve and can then methodically map out and explore the 20 levels. Then plan on another 10-12 hours building your character’s levels so that you CAN take on the dragon in the deepest parts of the dungeon. If there was a weakness here; it was in the final stretch of the game as you had to make multiple trips into the dungeon and build up experience. This became a tedious process and thus it is where the descriptive word “grind” comes into play that you always read about.

The permadeath feature created a high level of anxiety for me as I found myself near the end of the game. There is such a time investment in building up your character that the thought of defeat at the hands of the dragon was enough to make you almost nauseous. My final trip to the surface carrying the orb was filled with both anxiety and exhilaration delivering what seemed like a true payoff because of the time that you had to put in and this permadeath feature.

The game was moderately difficult. You MUST have a pencil and graph paper handy because you have to map these levels out in order to win the game. The permadeath feature and the amount of time needed to win the game (roughly 24 game hours) is not insignificant. There were no riddles or text in the game; all of your time was spent mapping and buffing your character.

I am thankful to the folks at cyber1 who have maintained this system and allowed me to take part in a piece of history that is the computer role-playing game realm. I would highly recommend the experience for anyone who has the time and inclination.

Next up: Game #3 We are still in 1975 and I continue my experience with the Plato system and will look at Orthanc next

I cinch up the straps to my backpack and drink the last of my water. I wipe the sweat from my palm and then rest it upon the pommel of my sword. The hardness of the metal is reassuring as I stare into the yawning mouth of the darkened corridor. It beckons to me like a familiar lover.

I can smell the dragon now. The heavy musk of it’s reptilian scent hangs over this entire level like a funeral shroud. Bones of its past victims litter the halls of this cursed place. Their hopes and dreams smashed like the bones strewn about the halls and rooms. The trek to this point has been long and arduous but I believe I am finally ready to face the beast here in it’s lair. Only the Gods know whether I will be victorious or not.

The metallic scrape of my sword being pulled from it’s scabbard echoes down the corridor. I let out a long, steady breath in an attempt to calm my nerves and then stride purposefully into the beckoning shadows.

Well this is it. I wanted to give you a possible last screenshot of Ryshad the 22nd as I don’t know whether he will make it out of this alive. I have finished my map of the 17th level of the dungeon and so far have not had a random encounter with the dragon. I feel I’m close enough to ATTEMPT to take on the dragon and wrest the orb from its control. Here is the thing; whether I am successful or not I am not going to start over. I have put about 7-10 hours worth of mapping in and probably another 8-10 hours building up Ryshad here in preparation for the coming battle. I hope that this is not the end for Ryshad as defeat would leave a bitter taste in my mouth. I just don’t have it in me to start over at this point and go through the entire thing again. Wish me luck. I will report back soon and let you know if I was victorious or not along with my final review of Game of Dungeons